Way down upon the Suwannee River

Howdee all,
If this post goes out I am lucky.....
We are camped out in Old Town, Florida ...on the Suwannee River and it is Far Far away from many things...
MY broadband card is soooooooo slow I cant read my regular bloggy haunts.
The pages take eons to download..and most photos dont appear...
so I guess I am taking a three day blogger time out.
We leave for newer pastures on Monday and hopefully a better internet connection.
So Here goes..
I hope this posts!

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge...SWF

Howdee all,
I took these cloud photos our last day birding on Merritt Island National Wildlife Refugee, Florida
The Clouds were amazing that day...

big puffs and blue

sunshine thru

Goodbye...Merritt Island

Go now and look at more wonderful skywatch posts

Time flies.......Visiting friends after four years

Howdee all,

One great thing about our lifestyle is that we meet so many wonderful people from all over the United States, Canada and elsewhere.
We may spend days or weeks with our new friends and then may not see them for a year or two or more.
We met our friends Pete and Pat when we first started motor homing seven years ago. We did some traveling together..hiking, golfing, socializing and just sharing time.

Pete and Pat retired from motor homing a few years back and bought a fixed foundation in a nice community in Arkansas where Pete can golf to his hearts content..and Pat can dance.
We have yet to visit them in Arkansas, but hopefully our wheels will get there.

Pete and Pat read my Bloggy and when they found out we were in Florida, where they are spending a few months this winter, they sent us an email.

As luck would have it we were traveling from Titusville to the Pan handle ...and Crystal River was right on our path.
We met them at their winter rental ..which is a very cool cluster of attached homes on stilts with marsh and river surrounding them...Dawn did not bring her camera that night and has no pictures of the stilt homes!
We had a nice night at the potluck that all the winter residents had.

Yesterday we went out for lunch with Pet and Pat and their friends...on couple from Ocala and another traveling from Michigan to a vacation spot. I did take a few pictures here..
OK not so good ones...but I am posting them any hoo....

Here's to friends....our paths may not cross every day, every month, every year...but when they cross it is like we saw each other yesterday!

Pete and Pat...monkey island out of the window

a table of friends to go....

Great blue heron seen out the porthole window

Haddock sandwich...

Goodbye for now Titusville....Heading West...to the Panhandle

Howdee all,

We had a wonderful time here in Titusville. Saw a Life bird...Stilt Sandpiper.
Saw Many birds...Had interesting weather...met amazing birders...
What a great experience! We love birding here...
but alas it is time to move on..
To the Panhandle.....to other birdies and maybe some cool shells!
Goodbye Titusville

Goodbye Snipe
You sure do blend in well with your surroundings.

Goodbye Stilt Sandpipers...Jeff recognizes you ..but you are still little Peeps to me!

Goodbye salt marshy mud flats.....

See Ya Tri-Colored Heron

Our last day birding here....Our Homey was at the service center ..so we took the fur boy...Balliecat....
Ballie love looking at the birdies.

I didn't want him strolling around outside because of these guys!
See Ya later Gator!

Goodbye silly looking Roseate Spoonbills...fluff up those feathers!

Goodbye Ibis...Goodbye gulls...Ross's Goose..
and all you other great birdies I didnt mention...


Last but not least....Goodbye Dixie Crossroads...
Thanks Loralee ..for starting the Space coast birding and wildlife festival 12 years ago!
Thanks for the great food at your Restaurant.


I always ...always get the Rock Shrimp and Key Lime Pie...
Yummy..

Goodbye..Titusville......till we meet again!

Roseate Spoonbills

Goodbye to Space Coast Birdie and Wildlife festival

Howdee all,

Yes the Space Coast Bird and Wildlife festival is over.
We had a terrific time!
Met some new birdie friends and met some of my Birdie blogging buddies.

We had some very cold mornings!

We saw Painted buntings.

The last two days it got warmer! Almost too hot..tee hee...

See Kevin Karlson in the below photo...he is on the right.
We love birding with him!
He has a wonderful book on Shorebirds..The Shorebird Guide...a must buy if you want to be better at shorebird Id...Kevin uses a great approach that makes Shorebird ID much easier...
Now we can Id 4 shorebirds instead of 2...tee hee..

For those of you who have never birded Florida...I suggest you get your butts over here.
There are some wonderful places all over Florida to bird.
Check out the Florida Birding Trail...
Set up beautifully online...you can search for what birds are in the area you want to visit..
You can search for target birds that you want to see.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Isnt it just bee U T ful here?

YOU will see lots of Birdies....not just shorebirds...
We went on a great bird walk in an Oak hammock...Saw many warblers...Vireos....had an amazing 15 minute display by a Whip or will...... Heard a Barred owl hooting.

Look at the Great Blue Herons yellow eye..

I took a digiscoping class....
I learned that I have no clue how to operate the manual settings on my camera...
I always have used my handy dandy automatic settings for different scenes.
I have no clue what iso...f stop etc...are..
I need to study...I hate to study...
but if I want better photos..I guess I should ...
anyway...
because my point and shoot is not a fast SLR camera...I took photos of allot of
butts....

I did get a few photos I liked..
This little Coot looking at its relfection..

Not the best composition..but some very cool Aveosets..

A nice Little Blue Heron

Pintailed ducks...

Blue winged Teal

There was a Falconer at the festival that showed off the talents of this beautiful bird.

We saw sandhill Cranes.
I didnt capture the silly display the male was doing to entertain his female...wish I did...but alas I did not.....
He was jumping up and down like a fool...fun to see.




This morning we found this cool moth.
Does anyone know what kind it is?

Oh...and by request of sista Dellare ...
and my other family members who read this..
I will do a contest for that previous berry photo post and this moth...
Whoever guess correctly first wins a prize...sorry to my other bloggy friends...My family would off my head.... if others were in my contests! tee hee...


So today is my non Birdie day....
Jeff has gone birding...
I needed a break...laundry ..vacuum..dust...shower......
and time to spend with my Balliecat.
We have one more day here in Titusville and then head over to the Panhandle for a new adventure. We have never been...so if anyone has any suggestions on where to go and what to see...give me a shout out..
Thanks..

Update
And the winners are....drum roll..
Sista Beachgrl and mother chicky
mother and sista both guessed the moth correctly..... Luna Moth
and sista...got the berries.
Brazilian-pepper tree, Christmasberry tree, Florida Holly

Another Lake Worth sunrise SWF

Howdee all

We said goodbye to our Lake Worth Campsite a week ago..
..........
I saved one last sunrise series for my Skywatch post.

Good bye for Now Lake Worth...
we loved your sunrises and reflections!

If you love looking skyward...click on the sky watch logo below to see more
Sky's from all over the world.

Space coast Birdie festival Day 2

Howdee all,

Burrrrr...
Didn't i say it was going to be cold today?
Well it was...for Florida's standards it was purdy darn cold. Below 30...
Ice forming cold.

We left for our walk at Little Big Econ State Forest at 6am.
The air was cold...the ground was frosty.

Look at the chunk of cold fog in the distance...

there it is...

the morning fog approaching the bundled birders

grass crystals

the fog reaches us

and now we are engulfed

Oh Goodie...the sun is peeking thru!

Jeweled leaves

I really didn't digicope much...I find I don't do this on guided walks... I really am too busy listening to our birdie guides and don't want to spend time with digiscoping...
We did spend some time looking at this fella...so Jeff and I took a few photos.

A warm late morning....St. Johns River

notice we took off our down jackets.


We watched a male, female and Juvenile Bald Eagle.

Some Lovely Florida berry...I have no clue what it is...

After the morning bird walk...Jeff and I took a Sparrow ID class.
I realize I need to study sparrows again. Yep ...back to the books.
I do prefer that outdoor classroom.

There are so many wonderful, knowledgeable birders here!

I was so excited to meet fellow birdie blogger Lee (from Lees Birdwatching Adventures) and her husband. If you haven't read her blog...you should check it out.

I also have enjoyed meeting and talking with John Riutta from Born again Birdwatcher. He is so knowledgeable about all things Birdie related and more!

Tomorrow another morning bird walk and more birdie classes.
Should be warmer...
Goodie gumdrops!